Arena #111: Ford Center - Evansville vs. Southern Illinois

Final travel weekend for the 2017-18 season started in downtown Evansville, IN at the Ford Center for a Missouri Valley Conference matchup between the Evansville Purple Aces and the Southern Illinois Salukis.  My 8th arena in the MVC was a fairly new and modern arena, though as it serves as a multi-purpose arena for all of Evansville, the arena seemed to be a little too big for a school that has struggled in basketball for the better part of the last couple decades.  Being located in basketball-crazed Indiana, however, seemed to have brought out more fans than I might have expected for this matchup of 2 of the poorer teams in the Valley this season.  In the end, the Purple Aces ended up pummeling the Salukis all afternoon long turning this one into a bit of a snoozer.

Outside the Ford Center on a rainy Saturday afternoon

The arena was nice, but a bit sparsely populated on this day

Opening tip between the Purple Aces and Salukis

One of the many baskets Evansville scored early and often in this matchup